Monocular Vision

Monocular vision as compared to binocular vision will impact the affected individual in several ways. Primarily are the loss of depth perception and the reduction of peripheral vision. These will cause problems in eye hand coordination, depth judgments, orientation, mobility, and some activities of daily living such as playing sports, driving, climbing stairs, crossing the street, threading a needle etc. Most people with acquired monocular vision loss believe they have adapted to their condition by one year with many reporting the loss had not changed their life in any permanent way. A head turn in the direction away from the loss is an expected adaptation and serves to maximize the remaining field of vision. Monocular individuals can be expected to demonstrate more head movements as a way of enhancing depth perception for eye-hand coordination tasks.

Typically, a student does not qualify for services from the department of students with visual impairments if they have no vision or low vision in one eye and can see 20/69 or better in the other eye with correction.